Partnerships: New Approaches to Compensation Management for Information Technology Professionals

With today's continuous advancements in technology, innovative human resource systems must support flexibility in assigning work which allows an organization to better meet its goals and to capitalize on its available skills mix, as well as encourage and recognize employee performance and development. To address these needs, both Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the California State University (CSU) system have created human resource and information technology partnerships and have recently implemented broadbanded classification and compensation approaches for their information technology organizations. Both universities built their programs based on the job design concepts developed by the CSU and reported in CAUSE/EFFECT in summer 1994: Organizational Effectiveness and Changing Job Design In The Information Technology Community, by Elsa Swan and Celeste Giunta (CEM9426 in the CAUSE IR Library). This paper compares the two models and how they are adapted to meet unique organizational needs. The VCU model is a competency-based compensation approach focusing on performance and covers two distinct university units, the academic campuses and the teaching hospitals. The CSU model covers information technology organizations across its 22 campuses and utilizes skill-based levels to support the recognition of employee development. The CSU implementation process included successfully negotiating a new compensation approach with union representatives.